American influence crumbling

[The_Halfmoon]

America is at a serious crossroads right now. We all hear everyday probably the terms "multi-polar" world, but I think some of us understand this new world is the same as the one yesterday, but with a much more diminished role for US intervention abroad.

Bottom line, if there ever was an American empire, it is crumbling. RAPIDLY. Bellow is an article from the Asia Times which points out 6 signs of diminishing American power. In a way I don't think this is all bad, but I do feel America has been a force for good and I worry about a world without American supremacy.

Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan

Here's a summary of the 6 points, and you tell me if you agree or not:

1. The G-7/G-8 has now officially deferred to the G-20. This demonstrates the rapid rise of the "BRIC" countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). Jeffrey Sachs is quoted as saying: "The G-20's true significance is not in the passing of a baton from the G-7/G-8 but from the G-1, the US."

2. Americas economic rivals are looking for an alternative to the dollar. Again, the BRIC countries are moving away from the US.

3. Although there is a lot of misleading information about this issue, both Russia and China have rebuffed the US diplomatically regarding Iran. Obama thought he could buy the Russians by nixing the missile shield in Eastern Europe. But he seems to have received little for his rather significant sacrifice.

4. China has gone a step further, and outright developed a DEEP relationship with Iran. This not only shows a dismissal of US interests by China, but also a bypassing of traditional US allies in the Gulf.

5. International support for the war in Afghanistan is very rapidly diminishing. Gordon Brown has only pledged an extra 500 troops and "only if other European nations increase their own military involvement, something he undoubtedly knows is highly unlikely."

6. The bypassing of Chicago by the IOC for the 2016 olympics. The writer notes, "few said so, but in the course of the Olympic decision-making process the US was summarily and pointedly demoted from sole superpower to instant also-ran, a symbolic moment on a planet entering a new age."

What do you think?

 

[uscitizen]

Of course. America has passed it's golden age and is in decline. How far it goes down and if we ever regain much is the question.

 

[The_Halfmoon]

yah, definitely. I don't think it will stop being the most powerful single nation. But it may stop being so powerful that the world agrees to every one of its diplomatic goals.

 

[Claudette]

Gee. I wonder if the rest of the world can take care of itself now?? Mayby fight their own wars. Feed their own hungry people. Hey they might even provide medial care, fight AIDS. Who knows what they can do when we Americans aren't there to do it for them????

Mayby this being a third world country isn't such a bad deal after all.

 

[The_Halfmoon]

Gee. I wonder if the rest of the world can take care of itself now?? Mayby fight their own wars. Feed their own hungry people. Hey they might even provide medial care, fight AIDS. Who knows what they can do when we Americans aren't there to do it for them????

Mayby this being a third world country isn't such a bad deal after all.

well, resource exporting countries have definitely suffered under US hegemony, but I think a significant amount of trouble has been kept under check by the US.

We all remember when Russian influence crumbled in the Balkans, so who knows.

 

[Diuretic]

It's the progress of globalisation that's all. Globalisation results in a "flatter" world (not a Flat Earth of course) and that means that economic power and political influence will eventually find its own level. The US is possibly the last superpower.

Ironically enough the BushCheney Administration which touted the military invincibility of the US actually exposed its limits. Corporations don't care about national interests or political influence unless they can be exploited, so corporations are driving globalisation.

Unlike early in the 20th Century when the United States was undergoing massive growth in its economy and corporations enlisted the power of the US military to colonise countries in the North-America/South America/Caribbean axis, corporations now have little use for US military power, it could well be that the invasion and occupation of Iraq is the last blatantly obvious use of US military power to secure corporate interests in another nation.

Other previous imperial/colonial powers enjoyed growth, stability and then decline, all due to geopolitical forces at work. It's happening to the US now, the 21st Century will be a global century, you're watching history being made.

 

[Toro]

Except for #6, all those have been in process for years.

Perhaps instead of #6, we'd say "President wins Nobel Peace Prize."

 

[HUGGY]

America is at a serious crossroads right now. We all hear everyday probably the terms "multi-polar" world, but I think some of us understand this new world is the same as the one yesterday, but with a much more diminished role for US intervention abroad.

Bottom line, if there ever was an American empire, it is crumbling. RAPIDLY. Bellow is an article from the Asia Times which points out 6 signs of diminishing American power. In a way I don't think this is all bad, but I do feel America has been a force for good and I worry about a world without American supremacy.

Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan

Here's a summary of the 6 points, and you tell me if you agree or not:

1. The G-7/G-8 has now officially deferred to the G-20. This demonstrates the rapid rise of the "BRIC" countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). Jeffrey Sachs is quoted as saying: "The G-20's true significance is not in the passing of a baton from the G-7/G-8 but from the G-1, the US."

2. Americas economic rivals are looking for an alternative to the dollar. Again, the BRIC countries are moving away from the US.

3. Although there is a lot of misleading information about this issue, both Russia and China have rebuffed the US diplomatically regarding Iran. Obama thought he could buy the Russians by nixing the missile shield in Eastern Europe. But he seems to have received little for his rather significant sacrifice.

4. China has gone a step further, and outright developed a DEEP relationship with Iran. This not only shows a dismissal of US interests by China, but also a bypassing of traditional US allies in the Gulf.

5. International support for the war in Afghanistan is very rapidly diminishing. Gordon Brown has only pledged an extra 500 troops and "only if other European nations increase their own military involvement, something he undoubtedly knows is highly unlikely."

6. The bypassing of Chicago by the IOC for the 2016 olympics. The writer notes, "few said so, but in the course of the Olympic decision-making process the US was summarily and pointedly demoted from sole superpower to instant also-ran, a symbolic moment on a planet entering a new age."

What do you think?

I think anyone that has ever shopped at walmart is responsible for the dimming of the influence america once held. It is selfish traitors that leap over dollars to save dimes that have brought this on. The neo cons have dumbed you all down and now you complain?

 

[kyzr]

I think anyone that has ever shopped at walmart is responsible for the dimming of the influence america once held. It is selfish traitors that leap over dollars to save dimes that have brought this on. The neo cons have dumbed you all down and now you complain?

I almost thanked you for your post, until you blamed America's decline on the "neocons". IMHO it was Walmart and the mad rush to relocate too many factories overseas, including high-tech. The economic lead we had on the world went away due to simple greed by Wall Street, CEOs and the Corporate Boards.
Congress was bought-off to prove that they are whores, who don't care about domestic jobs, or our standard of living.

As to our "decline", I hope that means no more "foreign aid" and no more playing the "worlds cop". Let the rest of the world start paying for their own security.

 

[logical4u]

IMHO, it is because our leader has declared that we are no longer a Christian nation, therefore the blessing that we have received will be diminished as well.

 

[HUGGY]

I think anyone that has ever shopped at walmart is responsible for the dimming of the influence america once held. It is selfish traitors that leap over dollars to save dimes that have brought this on. The neo cons have dumbed you all down and now you complain?

I almost thanked you for your post, until you blamed America's decline on the "neocons". IMHO it was Walmart and the mad rush to relocate too many factories overseas, including high-tech. The economic lead we had on the world went away due to simple greed by Wall Street, CEOs and the Corporate Boards.
Congress was bought-off to prove that they are whores, who don't care about domestic jobs, or our standard of living.

As to our "decline", I hope that means no more "foreign aid" and no more playing the "worlds cop". Let the rest of the world start paying for their own security.

Well allow me instead.

I didn't studder. It started with Reagan and the firing of the air traffic controllers. The neo cons stole the republican party of which my family for the three generations I can remember were proud members of. Most of the legislation giving advantages to those companies that shipped our jobs overseas were sponsored by the neo con elements in congress over the last twenty years.

 

[rightwinger]

I think tales of our demise are grossly exaggerated

- US is the sole Superpower...no, make that Mega Power
- We are the richest country in the world by far
- US culture is the dominant culture on earth

 

[Toro]

I think tales of our demise are grossly exaggerated

- US is the sole Superpower...no, make that Mega Power
- We are the richest country in the world by far
- US culture is the dominant culture on earth

Yes, America is and remains the world's sole Superpower, despite the past nine years.

America is doing its best to repudiate its status, but its too hard to do so. No other country comes close to America.

 

[Old Rocks]

Gee. I wonder if the rest of the world can take care of itself now?? Mayby fight their own wars. Feed their own hungry people. Hey they might even provide medial care, fight AIDS. Who knows what they can do when we Americans aren't there to do it for them????

Mayby this being a third world country isn't such a bad deal after all.

All the industrial nations provide medical care for all of their citizens. Something that we do not do.

Japan, and a few other wealthy nations actually already spend a higher proportion of their GNP on non-military foreign aid than we do.

 

[Old Rocks]

IMHO, it is because our leader has declared that we are no longer a Christian nation, therefore the blessing that we have received will be diminished as well.

You mean this President?

Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net

Mr. President

To messers Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.

Gentlemen

The affectionate sentiments of esteem & approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful & zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more & more pleasing.

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state. [Congress thus inhibited from acts respecting religion, and the Executive authorised only to execute their acts, I have refrained from presenting even occasional performances of devotion presented indeed legally where an Executive is the legal head of a national church, but subject here, as religious exercises only to the voluntary regulations and discipline of each respective sect.] Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.

(signed) Thomas Jefferson
Jan.1.1802.

 

[sealybobo]

The corporate fat cats who got rich during the Bush years don't care about America. They are taking over the world and american labor is just too expensive.

But don't worry. We're taking it back. Undoing a lot of what they did the last 8 years. But its hard because now the lobbyists are calling the Democrats and influencing them now.

 

[Old Rocks]

I think tales of our demise are grossly exaggerated

- US is the sole Superpower...no, make that Mega Power
- We are the richest country in the world by far
- US culture is the dominant culture on earth

Yes, America is and remains the world's sole Superpower, despite the past nine years.

America is doing its best to repudiate its status, but its too hard to do so. No other country comes close to America.

All true.

However, since 2001, we have found that we too are vulneble to terrorism.

We have discovered that, in spite of occupying two small nations for eight and six years, respectively, we cannot quell the violence there.

We discovered that the concept of completely free markets has some real downsides. Our financial system almost plunged the whole world into the Second Great Depression.

We have discovered the true cost of over extending our military.

And we have seen the mastermind of the murder of 3000 Americans on American soil go free for over eight years since the crime.

So we are a somewhat diminished superpower at present.

 

[AllieBaba]

When the leaders of the most powerful government in the world, which also happens to be the most democratic and the most peaceful, decide that it is no longer any of our business what the rest of the world..guess what? We cease to matter.

I wonder what the pacifists who insist we have no business moderating those countries that insist on violating the civil rights of their own people, who beg us for help against terrorists from other countries who slaughter their people, who want tyrannical despots deposed, will say when we let those guys just do their own thing, they gain more power, and turn en masse against us?

Will they say we deserve it?

 

[Big Black Dog]

Within the next 10 years if we continue along the path we're currently taking we will be the strongest Third World Country on the planet.

 

[Harry Dresden]

As to our "decline", I hope that means no more "foreign aid" and no more playing the "worlds cop". Let the rest of the world start paying for their own security.

amen........especially the countries who are supposed to have modern militaries....